Vegas in February

Going on a trip to Vegas during February was the best idea. Not that I can take any credit for that, as it was not my idea. My good friend Jenessa moved their last summer and life just hasn't been the same since. Her husband called me up before Christmas one evening to discuss the possibility of me flying out to visit at some point. He said, "All Jenessa wants for Christmas is you." She is the sweetest friend there ever was. I was of course on board, and feeling  like this Christmas present was more of a gift for me. We chose a date and mid February I took off for a glorious 5 day trip to warm and sunny Vegas. 

She is the greatest.

Despite the fact that I was exhausted after traveling all day and that it felt like midnight my time, we did not delay in getting our girls nights started--it was also Valentine's Day, so of course we had to have some fun! We went down to the strip (me looking nice and grungy in my leggings and sweatshirt) and got some dessert at Milk Bar in the Cosmopolitan. 

I felt pretty pressured to try something with their cereal milk in it since so many of the options had it and ended up going with a fruity cereal milkshake. I regretted it pretty quickly. Thankfully Jenessa's chocolate fudge cake milkshake was amazing and she kindly shared way more than she needed to with me.

We walked around for quite awhile talking and taking in the craziness of Vegas on Valentine's Day. A girl at a beauty shop was passing out little moistuerizer packets and we got roped in to the store to get our wrinkles fixed. She looked us both up and down and then looking very disgusted by my appearance grabbed me and told me that she would help fix my wrinkles. She put this cream under one of my eyes and then asked Jenessa to tell me how much better it made me look and she was like, "Uhhh, I can't really tell a difference." She tried to sell the cream to us for a V-day discount of $199, opposed to the normal price of $600, but we kindly declined. It was definitely a highlight of the evening.

After awhile, we found a secluded area in the casino with a bunch of big tvs and couches where we decided to hang out and watch the Olympics while we finished off the shakes.  I couldn't get over all the fancy chandeliers and decoration all over! It was really a sight. 

Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we got to her house as it felt like 3 a.m. to me, but it was worth it. I slept nice and soundly that night. 

The next day we hung out at her house, went for a beautiful walk with the sun beaming down on us, and hung out at the park. That evening, when her husband got home from work, we took off again (I didn't realize before going out there that the other part of the Christmas gift was going out to try out all the yummy food that Vegas has to offer each night).

We decided on Korean BBQ which I had never had before. It was AMAZING. So fun that you could choose whatever meats/veggies you wanted and grill them right there. At one point the waiter came over and started turning our meat for us because we were so caught up in conversation that we weren't even paying attention to the meat. Oops.

The after picture (because I forgot to take a before picture).

We then made our way over to the Venetian where we did some more walking, people watching, and dessert eating. These casinos (hotels? not sure what you call them) are SO cool! (I mean, kind of awful too overhearing everyone talk about all the money they lost that night, but all the shops and themed decor are really fun). 

Gelato! 

We had to stop at Buchon Bakery while there as well and tried our first macarons. I hear people talking about macarons all the time and they just don't look that good to me, but holy moly were they good (We tried Salted Caramel and Pistachio).

The next day we played with the kiddos, went to Eppie's dance class (which really made me so excited to put Belén in dance some day. Eppie did teach me a lot of cool moves that I got to come home and teach Belén and Shae which they were excited about). We also did some BBG together just like the good ol' days. We went and did some pants shopping that evening and then went out for Mexican food at Lindo Michoacan (I miss good Mexican food so much!)

Saturday was so relaxing. We went hot tubbing and relaxed by the pool, reading and sleeping for a couple hours. We wanted to make sure we weren't tempted to eat anything at home since we were going to a buffet that afternoon. The weather was perfect. Vegas definitely grew on me those few days I was out there.

We headed back to the Cosmopolitan to go to the Wicked Spoon that afternoon/evening. We spent almost 3 hours there! Just trying to get our moneys worth you know. We were so scared that someone was going to kick us out. But it was nice to just take it slow and pace ourselves while we conversed and ate and conversed and ate. Also, very nice that they sat us right next to the dessert counter.

Chocolate covered strawberries dipped in crushed Heath bar! I will definitely be making that someday.

Stuffed for the rest of forever.

 We squeezed in one final food trip early Monday morning before I took off. We went to Hash House A Go Go and split this massive plate of chicken and waffles. 

Then it was off to the airport for the sad goodbye. I loved every second of my visit and miss this girl and her sweet family so much! Move back to NY!